Pranam

On Christmas Day 1984, I received a phone call from Kailash. He was on holiday with Sri Chinmoy in Madrid, along with many disciples, including my brother Andre. Kailash told me that my brother had been seriously injured in a car accident, and had been hit on the left part of his head. Kailash said that a member of the family should come immediately because my brother's life was in danger. I took the next plane for Madrid, after telling my parents the Christmas surprise. When I arrived, I went first to the hall where Guru was holding the functions. Guru was meditating with a large group of disciples, holding a white flower in his hands. After the meditation, he gave the flower to me and told me to put it on my brother's head; he said there was a healing power in it. Guru said that my brother's soul had come to him, asking for permission to leave the body. The soul was afraid to remain in a disabled body. Guru assured the soul that my brother would be fine and very happy again, and thus he convinced the soul to stay. The next day in the hospital, the doctor who was in charge of the neurology section explained the situation to me and examined my brother's state. Besides some broken bones and open wounds, there was brain damage clearly visible in the X-ray. The swelling of the brain inside the head suppressed the functioning of important centres and caused loss of consciousness. My brother was in a deep state of coma—he would not respond to someone calling his name, touching him or even pricking him with a needle. Unlike Guru, the doctor could not tell the future of my brother. Reasonably enough, he said that it is possible that my brother would never regain consciousness and, even if he did, he was likely to be retarded. Shortly after that, Guru came to the hospital and entered my brother's room in the intensive care section. Only a few nurses were present besides Guru and myself. Guru stood in front of my brother's bed and invoked the Supreme. Out of his deep coma, my brother sat up in his bed and started to sing. With a clear, loud and beautiful voice, he sang the word "pranam" for about five minutes. The nurses were shocked and gathered around his bed; in Spanish they repeated that he was singing. I felt joy and knew that Guru had everything under perfect control. One week later my brother opened his eyes and showed the first signs of consciousness. Within a few months he recovered enough to leave the hospital. Guru then gave him his spiritual name, Mrittunjoy, which means, "The God-seeker whose aspiration-power has conquered ignorance-death- force." Neither my brother nor I knew what "pranam" meant. Guru explained that Mrittunjoy's soul had recognised the Supreme and sang "pranam," which means "I bow to Thee."

Suhriday (Athens, Greece)